


sweet hyacinth

by Beyond_the_Grace



Series: kindness blooms [9]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Gen, Good Petunia Evans Dursley, Good Regulus Black, Harry Potter was Adopted by Other(s), Harry Potter was Raised by Other(s), Hufflepuff Harry Potter, Not Canon Compliant, Regulus Black Lives, intentionally lowercase
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28387722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beyond_the_Grace/pseuds/Beyond_the_Grace
Summary: harry enters his third year as a hufflepuff but not everyone is what they seems and why are malfoy and granger now getting along?a tale of family and dramatics...the black family have not changed
Relationships: Harry Potter & Blaise Zabini, Hermione Granger & Draco Malfoy, Luna Lovegood & Blaise Zabini, Luna Lovegood & Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom & Blaise Zabini, Neville Longbottom & Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom & Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom & Theodore Nott, Regulus Black & Harry Potter, Regulus Black & Sirius Black, Regulus Black/Petunia Evans Dursley, Sirius Black & Harry Potter, Sirius Black & Remus Lupin, Theodore Nott & Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott & Harry Potter
Series: kindness blooms [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1773583
Comments: 16
Kudos: 130





	sweet hyacinth

**Author's Note:**

> this one has pathos. there's action but not what you think it's going to be. (or what i thought it'd be tbh)  
> also this is amazingly not harry heavy. it was an accident but i mean it was his quietest year?

sirius thought he'd make a rather good nomad when this was all over. he could see himself living off the land like this and not having to obey society's rule and order. he could travel the world and break bread with kind strangers. this time alone was helping refill his sanity and he no longer felt as raw as his time at azkaban had originally left him. he felt at peace in these back corners of the country, like he could finally breathe clearly. he wished he could show james and remus. he wished he could find harry at least but that was proving harder than he thought.

he wasn't stupid, he knew there'd be some protection put on harry's home to hide him from death eaters but he hadn't expected the level of security that was apparent. he had no clue where his godson was and when he tried to look up petunia evans he had been unable to find anything. he knew that that was who harry had been living with and he was pretty sure she had never gotten married so why was it that he was unable to find them?

in the end he had to give up and he began the long journey up to scotland.

the only lead he really had was that peter was probably hiding out in gryffindor as he had been living the cushy life with the weasleys (whilst sirius had been rotting in prison) but even then sirius couldn't know for sure which house harry was in. he assumed gryffindor, lily and james had both been gryffindor to their cores, but he could be wrong. the little toddler he had known had traits of all houses to some extent and sirius knew people changed with their environment. he just hoped harry wasn't a slytherin.

it was mid-october by the time sirius arrived at hogwarts and he felt the familiar chill of dementors fall over him as he approached the school. he slid passed them with just a slight chill, he was as dog as human at this point and the presence of those creatures had only half bothered him. the castle looked as he remembered and in the depths of his memories he was half convinced he could hear james calling for him. he could still see his time there with such clarity that the sights he was seeing began to overlap with memory.

remus's timid form followed him and james as they loudly dicussed their next prank, peter hurried to keep up with their longer legs and he kept offering suggestions that remus would improve on and james would work into the plan effortlessly. he saw flashes of red hair as if lily herself had just flicked it over her shoulder as she flounced away from james in a huff at whatever stupid thing that the boy had just said. he could see snape's cruel glare and almost hear his biting comments about how sirius couldn't even get his family to love him or some other such rot. time had been kind to the castle. nothing had changed.

had his presence been felt that little? had they all had such little effect? they had been the marauders, they had been kings, but here the castle stood in her glory with no hint of their presence left behind. they were just another set of unmarked footprints in the snow; they had melted away long before they had noticed.

"murderer!" a voice called and sirius snapped his head up. had someone recognised him? "your cat is a bloody murderer!"

"it's a cat ronald, they chase rats!" a boy and girl stood in the courtyard shouting at each other. the girl had bushy hair and was carrying the ugliest cat sirius had ever seen. he loved it instantly. the boy was who sirius was looking at though. that was him! that was the boy who had had peter as a pet!

"trust the weirdo with no friends to have a murderous cat!" the boy was in the girl's face but by the looks of it neither were backing down.

"i'm the weirdo with no friends? where the hell are yours weasley?" the girl yelled back. "seamus and dean had enough of you because you were so cruel and neville prefers hanging out with slytherins than you! you have to tag along with your little sister just so that anyone will talk to you."

frank and alice's kid was hanging out with slytherins? god sirius had missed a lot in his time away.

"aww the pauper and the mudblood are having a domestic." a boy sirius recognised instantly had come over to the feuding pair. he was backed up by two larger boys who looked like complete thugs. malfoy. "did you realise how poor he is granger? even a mudblood like you can surely do better than this one huh?"

"really funny malfoy." the girl replied. "i love how you haven't come up with anything better than insulting my blood, it's only been three years."

"going for your teeth seemed like a cheap shot."

the girl shrugged as if agreeing but weasley stepped forwards. "fuck off ferret!"

"so crass, i bet your lump of a mother would love to hear you use that sort of language."

sirius would have kept watching the fight between them but he heard a noise from the other direction that sounded more like a groan of pain.

"great, my favourite people." a voice moaned. sirius looked to see a group of kids too far to properly see. he could see their robe colours and was honestly surprised. two slytherins were walking calmly with a gryffindor, ravenclaw, and a hufflepuff. what a strange group.

* * *

neville knew in july that he was going to have a horrible year. he had been looking forward to spending as much time as possible with his friends over the summer so he wouldn't have to deal with his grandmother's nagging and family's snide comments. that was dashed by the escape of a mass murderer. if it had been any mass murderer he doubted that it would have mattered but no. no it had to be the brother of the person he had planned to spend a lot of time with. regulus black and his wife were the most welcoming of all of their parents and so their house had become the hang out but his gran had instantly decided he couldn't go round there. still neville had hoped he'd be able to go to luna's a couple of times instead, luna who had replied to his letter with a short note that had said she would be in japan till mid-august and then would be going on to vietnam till the end of summer. naturally theo and blaise were out too but his gran had nicely offered for him to go to the weasleys. as if it wasn't bad enough that neville had to live with ronald weasley most of the year his gran wanted him to be friends with the spoilt boy.

ronald was loud and impulsive which would be fine in itself. neville wasn't stupid and knew most of his house mates could be described that way but ronald also had a habit of lying and being very jealous. when he had found out he was friends with harry potter (the harry potter, like the boy-who-lived? friends with longbottom? why?) he had played nice to try to get close with the boy but when neville had just been shy and stuttered around ron he had given up and gotten quite mean. the point was that despite his gran's wishes, he had no interest in being friends with ronald weasley. luckily the weasleys went to egypt.

it was the dementors that did it.

they had been seated as their group of five with the professor for defence that year. the man was shabby looking and seemed to be sleeping the whole time so they were largely unbothered. luna was talking about her time in vietnam, in the roundabout way she spoke about things, when a chill had started to form and the train drew to a stop.

"we're not there yet." blaise whispered and the cold increased.

the thing, whatever horror it was, opened their compartment door and neville felt all the happiness get sucked up like a sponge in seconds. all he could think about was every cruel word that anyone had ever said to him and every nightmare he had ever had. all he could hear was his heart in his ears and the faint remaints of some sort of joyous cackle that made him shake more. a mantra of his gran's voice whispered words so cruel he tried not to think of them most days, all the things she'd said to him that made his hands shake and tears to form in his eyes.

_not good enough_

_your father was better_

_i wish it had been you_

_they'd be so ashamed_

_you're weak_

_some gryffindor_

_weak_

the blue light pushed through the horror and neville felt the terror receding. the teacher stood by the door with a blue glow from his wand, forcing the creature back and out of their compartment. he looked around to see how his friends were and his stomach dropped. luna's eyes were like glass and she was not moving at all. theo's face was white as paper and he was ritually wringing his hands, the red blotches suggested he was being quite rough. blaise had his eyes shut and he was whispering something too quiet to hear. it was harry who was the worst. he was slumped on the seat passed out and neville rushed over to his friend to see if he was alright. relief rushed through him as those green eyes blinked up at him.

"here." neville looked up at the teacher to see he was holding out some chocolate. "have some all of you, it helps."

the man offered it around and neville rolled his eyes when he saw the silent argument that theo had managed to engage the man in. he was not at all surprised that theo was resisting the use of food as medicine. theo was a prickly boy who was always reluctant to accept food and solutions. he would prefer, in most cases, to suffer rather than be helped.

"you won't win that fight." harry broke through the argument. "we've been trying to get theo to eat more since first year."

"shut up potter, i eat a perfectly acceptable amount." they all snorted which only caused theo to pout more. neville knew he'd accept some from blaise in a while anyway.

"what was that?" neville asked the teacher.

"it was one of the dementors of azkaban, probably looking for sirius black." the man explained. "now if you'll excuse me, i'm going to have a word with the driver."

they pointedly didn't talk about it for the rest of the journey there. all five wished to collect themselves and though they wouldn't admit it they were embarrassed by their reactions to the dementors. they cheered extra hard for professor lupin when he was announced at dinner though. and for the first time neville found himself looking forward to the defence lessons.

* * *

blaise had genuinely thought this year would be different. he thought for once they'd have a defence teacher who wasn't completely daft but no. lupin decided to prove him wrong in the first lesson. blaise was halfway to grabbing the shabby man by the cloak and shaking some sense into him. what kind of idiot got a group of slytherins to reveal their greatest fear publically. he was sure in gryffindor that'd work fine, they'd all praise each other for defeating fear. the ravenclaws would be satisfied with learning. the hufflepuffs would comfort each other and insure that fear wouldn't have to be faced again. slytherin wasn't like that, it would be a new bruise to poke. it'd be weakness. to summarise it was 

"total bullshit!" pansy screamed out. "i'm not trusting psychopaths like blaise with my greatest fear! are you stupid?"

"pansy that language is not for in a classroom." lupin replied calmly.

"this is the staff room." theo pointed out helpfully and lupin shot him a glare.

"if i'm taking a class in a room then the room is a classroom."

"none of us are willingly exposing our fears regardless of what type of room it is." draco said snottily. "some of our fears could be ministry secrets for all you know. or enough to imprison people."

blaise ignored the way draco turned to him when he said that.

"fine. but you'll have an essay to do on them that the other houses won't and you will face them at the end of the year on your own." they all stared blankly at him. this man had been a gryffindor that was for sure.

still life continued on for blaise and he was pleased to say that it seemed rather stress free as far as their years went. of course he knew that it'd probably change at halloween as it did every year but for now blaise was happy to bury his head in the sand about it all. he knew it was harder for harry who was so closely linked with the escaped murderer. he sent more letters home than any other year and they all worked hard to distract him as much as possible. blaise would bet anything that the letters were almost all to his uncle and not his aunt. at least the others in their group seemed to be doing okay. 

theo was off with daphne most evenings which blaise had mixed feelings about. he liked the girl well enough but she did encourage theo's more obsessive and dramatic side that left the boy shutting himself off in the name of art. neville had the talent of being able to balance this out and he often dragged the rest of them off to mellow out in the green houses when harry or theo got too lost in their heads. luna had the opposite effect and seemed to drag people into her own view of the world. blaise thought luna was quite possibly the most interesting person he had ever met. the two of them often met at night on walks. blaise had always enjoyed the quiet of the night but since meeting luna one night he found himself spending more and more time on late night strolls.

"so what's her name?" draco had asked one night as blaise came back from one such walk.

"whose name?" blaise asked, he purposefully played up the coyness. he was okay with others thinking he was off snogging some witch in the astronomy tower if that's what draco wanted to hear.

"the witch of course!" theo sounded way too pleased for someone who knew the truth, blaise had invited him more than once to meet the ravenclaw. "lady love has found are young friend, alas we are losing him to a beguiling fiend!"

"and such a fiend is she," draco continued theo's joke with the same levels of dramatics. "she who has turned our once clear eyed friend into this love stricken fool."

_t_ _he worst part of draco malfoy_ , blaise thought, _was he was a great friend when he forgot to be a prejudice twat._

naturally the night dissolved into a rather violent pillow fight.

life continued quietly till halloween. they had gone off to hogsmeade but had had to leave luna and neville behind. promiced sweets had taken priority over exploring, largely due to harry feeling so guilty, but it had been a nice day out for the trio. harry had managed to relax a bit and whilst he still was more subdued than he perhaps might have been, theo and blaise were both happy they'd kept their friend sidetracked on such a tough day for him.

it was when they got back it all went to hell.

the fat lady was a portrait that blaise only had experience waiting outside of but that was enough to remember her loud shrill voice. that did not mean he wanted her to look like she was carved up by a demented butcher. cest la vie. sirius black had broken into the school and used a grubby knife to try and threaten a painting to be able to get into gryffindor and kill harry potter. blaise was thirteen years old and had lost all hope in serial killers. if he had broken out of a prison no one had before he'd at least look up the address of the person he was planning to brutally murder. if blaise wasn't friends with harry he may have considered sending black some advice on how to actually successfully murder. if he was completely honest he was still tempted.

* * *

regulus knew that his family were worried about him. petunia was constantly making him tea and iris was clingier. harry's letter writing had picked up a lot and at christmas he had followed iris's lead and latched onto him. regulus didn't want to admit how loved this made him feel but he would admit that that christmas was one of the best he'd ever had. andromeda had been in contact a lot too and he had taken iris and petunia round theirs for dinner a few times. it had been weird seeing andy again, they had never been close and he hadn't even been hogwarts age when she had left the family for ted tonks. he had only been vaguely aware of their daughter and certainly didn't know her name.

"so i didn't even get to be the family disappointment?" andy had asked the first time he had met her. they had agreed to meet at a muggle cafe alone for the purpose of neutral ground in case they didn't end up getting on.

"sirius was sorted into gryffindor that same year cousin, i think if she were still alive mother would still be yelling about it now." regulus took a careful sip of his earl grey.

"he and bella always had to steal the spotlight didn't they? still it was us quiet ones who seemed to have turned out the best." andy paused. "perhaps not cissy though, i cannot imagine she had much freedom in that awful manor. she always was a suck up. so did you end up with a family reggy? the last time i saw you you were ten and declaring you'd be a lone artist and never talk to anyone ever."

regulus brushed a hand through his hair bashfully before answering "i-uh married. i married a muggle girl and we have a daughter and a nephew. they're great."

"wow, really?" andy looked genuinely impressed "you outdid us all there cousin, i thought the muggleborn was scandalous but you went all out. you must tell me about them, there were only whispers that you were alive let alone married. though there have been some very odd ones linked to a certain harry potter?"

"i met petunia a year or so after my disappearance and started a job as a muggle tattoo artist. petunia evans agreed to marry me after we realised that we were already some-what connected..."

"don't be coy reggy, who is this petunia?"

"lily potter's estranged muggle sister." reggy dropped his voice a bit despite the privacy charms around them. andy gasped.

"shit. so the nephew?" regulus nodded. "did dumbledore know? did anyone? i mean it was hardly a secret what side you were on during the war."

"no one knew till harry's first year. i wasn't seen till i was in my mid-twenties and since then rarely. beyond long standing orders to the black family elf i hadn't interacted with our world since i left. i only came out in order to get harry ready." regulus explained, it felt good to tell someone with some idea for once. "we had a daughter after a few years. we loved having harry around so much we thought why not. iris astra is nine years old and made us both realise that harry is a complete angel."

"iris?"

"her mother's family all go for floral names...i lost a bet."

it was true and one of regulus's favourite memories. they had been debating for months whether their child should have a floral or celestial name and whilst they both knew that the name narcissa or narcisus would settle the debate it was not a name either liked. so they took a bet. a sporting bet. both shared a love for quidditch, unlike the boy they had raised, and so had taken bets on which team would finish higher on the table. regulus was convinced that the holyhead harpies were destined for their third year in a row of winning the cup but petunia was so convinced it was going to be puddlemore united. they told their muggle friends it was a football bet instead. still after iris had been named asuch regulus gave her only space themed nicknames until harry's primary teacher had asked them if they had really named their child alien when they'd gone to his parents evening.

regulus was pretty sure arguing with petunia was his favourite thing to do.

"you're not how i thought you'd be." andy told him softly as he was getting ready to leave. "despite what sirius has done; you're happier than i thought i'd ever see you."

and he was.

despite sirius' escape and the horcruxes regulus wasn't miserable. he had a job he loved and the best kids he could ask for and he was repairing the relationship he had with a cousin he thought he'd never see again. he had a small muggle house that felt more like home than anywhere he'd ever lived and he had a wife who loved him and fought with him like they were the same thing. he never thought he'd have any of it but his life was pretty damn near perfect.

iris loved her auntie andy when she met her, petunia and ted bonded over the stupidity of magic, and regulus thought his cousin's daughter was a riot. tonks was a very clumsy and kind lady who regulus couldn't help but see harry in. the two hufflepuffs were so incredibly kind and loyal that the two were paired in his mind before she'd even mentioned her house. regulus couldn't help but think that sprout really must be doing something right in that house because he felt every hufflepuff he'd met who'd been to school under her had had something so intrinsically hufflepuff about them, they were more distinctive than any other house. 

as far as years went, this was the most emotionally exhausted regulus had ever been and he hadn't even chased up his newest horcrux lead.

* * *

_i'm the weirdo with no friends? where the hell are yours weasley? seamus and dean had enough of you because you were so cruel and neville prefers hanging out with slytherins than you! you have to tag along with your little sister just so that anyone will talk to you._

ron knew for hermione this had just been another insult to throw out at him. he knew because he'd only been doing the same thing but this had hit different. it had hit different because she wasn't wrong. in first year he'd been at least able to ride on the logic that harry potter had snubbed him because he'd insulted his house but when his friendship with seamus and dean had come to an abrupt end too he began to realise it probably wasn't because the world was conspiring against him. he knew he was quick to speak and that he was mean at times but there were plenty of others in their year with that problem and they all had friends didn't they? maybe it was time to try something different.

"hey macmillan!" ron called over to the hufflepuff before rushing to get to the boy. "hufflepuff is by the kitchen right?"

"yeah, if you wanted in though wouldn't you be better off asking your brothers?" the boy arched a pale eyebrow.

"oh, no that's not what i wanted." ron paused, pretending to be more worried than he was. "i was wondering if you'd seen a rat around there? my pet keeps going missing because of granger's feral cat and it seemed like where the useless thing would go."

"if i had a pet rat i'd probably let it go missing." ernie told him.

"i want to but i can't get another pet if i lose the one i got can i?"

"i suppose not, want to come bug justin?"

"sure."

* * *

the shrieking shack creaked like an old boot and a chilling air passed through the windows. remus couldn't believe he was back here, he couldn't believe all three of them were. sirius stood in the corner, thinner than a twig and grimy with the dirt of twelve years in prison and a further few months on the run. peter was at his feet whimpering like the coward he was. the other occupants looked on in disgust at the grovelling man but all remus could feel was the murderous rage that had fueled his friend for all this time. this was not how any of this was supposed to go and remus was pretty sure he wasn't the only one who knew this.

"you can't kill him now." one of the children drawled out and remus hummed in acknowledgment. the boy wasn't wrong. that didn't mean any of this was going any easier though.

"i wasn't asking for your permission funnily enough." sirius snapped out and remus resisted the urge to flinch at the rasp of his friend's voice.

"no, he's right. no one will believe us about any of this." the girl nodded at the boy who'd spoken.

"what? has dumbledore stopped trusting every word the gryffindors said suddenly?"

"no he does but not everyone trusts dumbledore."

this gave sirius pause. remus would have had the same reaction if he hadn't spent the year at the castle. it was true, the amount of weight the students put into the headteacher's word had lessened significantly and remus could think of students from all the houses who had no respect for the man. he also had an inkling on why this was. for months now an anonymous author had been publishing articles discrediting the headmaster and questioning his various decisions as headmaster. the only thing known about the writer was he had been a slytherin but knew both sides of the war well. they had only cropped up this year but they had been very critical and incredibly well received.

"that's fair." was sirius's delayed response.

"no it's not!" the boy, who had been quiet till then, burst out. "some stupid slytherin upstart starts slagging off the guy and now he's evil? no one thinks this guy might be lying for reads."

"really? are you that stupid? the house isn't important. the fact is this writer is right about things, they know their facts." the other boy tossed back. "it's not the mindless gossip of skeeter."

"so how do we get people to accept the truth?" sirius black asked, frustration leaking into his tone.

"we prove it to potter." the girl replied simply. "but we need actual proof. he wouldn't trust any of us."

sirius shot a look at remus but he chose to ignore it. he got on with harry quite well, especially after telling him how he had known his parents and had been good friends with james but he also knew that harry's friends were less trusting. theodore nott had not let harry be alone with remus at all and had insisted on sitting in on the boy's patronus lessons. his younger ravenclaw friend had asked him flat out about his lycanthropy but then assured him it wasn't because of that that she disliked him but rather the wrackspurts. neville was the only one of harry's friends he had had a good relationship with.

"can you convince mr zabini or mr nott of the truth draco?" remus asked and knew it was a lost cause as he said it.

"probably but i don't want to. blaise would probably be far too happy about it all, i don't have time for that." draco replied. "plus theodore would try to write some tragic poetry about it and then the whole school would know of my involvement. in fact i think i'll take my leave now. it's a full moon you know."

shit.

* * *

there is a world where three friends faced down a werewolf and a traitor just to learn the truth. where they stood up against evil in the name of love and it all almost goes to hell when the sadness comes and nearly kills an innocent man. in that world life starts and ends in the same way. because of a map. because of a man with a grudge. because three gryffindors battled a troll once and two more gave a friend a present. in that world a time turner saves two lives and the boy-who-lived knows his godfather loves him but that isn't enough because he has to go back to a house where he is starved and ignored and hated.

but there is another world where two of five friends take care of magic creatures. in this world they report back what happened and how a beautiful creature is to be put to death and during a hearing they steal it. they steal a magnificent creature whilst their classmates who they don't like confront a murderer. the hippogriff gets led into the forest where they wait till nightfall before releasing it back into it's pack. no one knows it was them but the next day when the half giant counts his animals he smiles and thanks magic for this miracle. the children return to the castle as do their peers. neither group ask what the others were up to, they're all out past curfew. the rat still escapes. a dog slips away in silence. the greasy professor tells everyone about the wolf anyway.

so how does our hero know his godfather is not evil? well it really is quite simple.

luna tells them all. she frames a fairy tale with an elven prince, a horrible hag and a troll who find a peaceful wolf and a grim. _it isn't a real grim_ , she tells them, _just a kind puppy but the townsfolk all think he's the reason that the chosen one is an orphan_. it wasn't though, that was the brownie who pretends to be a mouse. everyone is who they aren't and no one is really dead. luna took harry's face in her hands then and repeated it to him. no one is really dead. none of the bad guys that is, the hero has to suffer to be able to fight. the prince isn't brave but he has a silver tongue, the hag charms the prince a little bit but neither help the grim or the wolf. they can't yet, it isn't their fault. the troll tries to help, he kept the mouse but he hands it to the grim. the troll tells the wizard. all is well.

"so the hero doesn't know to forgive but the elven prince has all the cards. see the prince knows the right thing to do is tell the deceptor and the bard because they'll believe him. he doesn't know the seer knows, and the hag thinks she might tell the mage but she doesn't know how. the prince thinks that if he tells the bard then everyone will know and that the deceptor is too deceiving."

"so how does it end luna?" asked neville.

"i don't know. it wasn't supposed to go that way. there was supposed to be a hero who had only two friends." a chill went through harry. "they do their best but only they know the truth."

they sat in silence for a while and harry wondered who his friends were supposed to be if luna was right. it also made him think about sirius black and the stories his uncle told about him. it didn't make sense for sirius to be the traitor. he had abandoned his family for the potters and what? came crawling back to betray them? it didn't make sense. the lack of trial also didn't add up, if sirius was guilty they would have given him a trial to show how right they were? if he was a prolific killer he would never have been proven innocent. it didn't add up. so who was the brownie? who was supposed to be dead? it couldn't be regulus because he wasn't close with his parents so it had to be...pettigrew!! of course! if he was an animagus then he could hide as a pet and fake his death. he had to tell regulus!

"i have to go." harry got up suddenly. "letter to write."

* * *

_dear harry_

_~~if you're right about this i'm going to kill that godfather of yours.~~ god i hope you're right. i'm hoping to be able to lead my idiot brother away from scotland so we can meet on equal ground. if you are right i shall let you know and i will owe a great debt to miss lovegood. providing he believes it is truly me then this shall be tricky, we left on different sides of the war and i do not know if he is aware of my continued survival. regardless i shall leave a note in the family house as that is the only place i can imagine he'll end up._

_it is likely he will seek you out before such a time where i can talk to him and so i implore you not to engage. even if he is innocent he lacks enough braincells i fear it may be catching. in all seriousness, for my mind's sake please don't approach him, just tell him to go to grimmauld if he would like answers. i have alerted kreacher to stay out of his way as it is more than likely that they will continue their feud regardless of which side they are on._

_i have not told your aunt of this and i beg you not to as well. if she knows i'm trying to gain contact with my brother she will be less than pleased. i assume i don't need to tell you not to tell iris?_

_thank you, truly._

_love from regulus x_

* * *

_sirius,_

_if you are reading this you are at grimmauld, a house i seem to remember you telling me you would never return to._

_name a time and a place and i am there, providing that your charges are false of course. if you truly did side with the dark lord then i am an only child._

_yours, regulus_

_p.s i feel the need to state that i am not dead, rather was injured quite severely when betraying the dark lord. if you wish to know more i await your owl._

sirius laughed in shock and hysteria. if anyone asked there were no tears in his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> purple hyacinth's are a symbol of regret, they come from the name of apollo's lover who died tragically.
> 
> should i reorder this to be chronological rather than the order i write? i kind of noticed that the regulus/evan part smashes the tension like a hammer?


End file.
